Entities such as consumers, organizations, enterprises, governments, health care entities, etc. need to exchange data for a variety of reasons, as may be easily imagined. In the modern world, this data exchange is often times accomplished electronically using a variety of methodologies. These methodologies include, for example, local storage (e.g., a thumb driver holding the data which can be physically delivered to a recipient), file transfer using particular protocols (e.g., file transfer protocol (FTP)), sending an email with an attachment, fax, etc.
While all these methods serve the same end, each of these methodologies has differing capabilities with respect to various characteristics such as ease of use, speed, security (e.g., the ability to resist interception or tampering), traceability, cost, etc. For example, using local storage may not feasible if two entities are widely dispersed geographically, while email attachments may not be secure enough to address some entities' concerns.
Faxing has proven useful in addressing many concerns of various entities while still meeting their data distribution needs. Faxing is thus still heavily utilized by individuals and the workflows of various entities. A facsimile (fax) comprises a document in a digital image format. The document is associated with a destination specified with respect to a publicly switched telephone network (PSTN). Thus, typically for at least a portion of the transmission, the document is transmitted over the PSTN. Faxing provides a secure, traceable and non-repudiable mechanism for content delivery and can be particularly useful in particular environments.
This is certainly the case in the health care field. A wide variety of concerns, in large part having to do with the desire to secure protected health information and maintain patient confidentiality, have led health care providers and other entities in the health care field to maintain faxing as a preferred method of transmitting health care related documents (and in particular patient related documents) between these entities.
Faxing, however, has limitations. For example, conventional fax machines can only transmit black and white files with limited resolution in a specific format such as the Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). Further, the transmission speed over the PSTN can be very slow compared to today's computer based networks. Additionally, as faxing may use the PSTN, faxing between two entities that are in different geographic area may require an expensive phone call. Accordingly, traditional faxing may be expensive as well as slow.
To address at least some of these concerns, certain methods and systems for exchanging data in a manner that is easy to use, relatively fast, secure and cost effective while still remaining compatible with previous methods for data exchange (especially those that that may have been utilized in various workflows, such as faxing, etc.) have been implemented. However, in certain areas, such as the health care field, these methods and systems cannot be effectively utilized because of concerns related to the security and confidentiality of data.
While there may be certain protocols in place to address the security or other concerns or issues with the use of faxing of data, implementing such protocols within the context of faxing or enforcing adherence to such protocols may be difficult for a number of reasons. It would thus be desirable to be able to implement or improve the use of such protocols, including security protocols or the like, in conjunction with transmission of data, including faxes.